Morning in Oz
by Rosepixie
Summary: A series of very short stories about characters from the Oz books in the morning. There is very little plot, but it is safe to assume that the stories all take place on the same morning, so small connections may become evident. I have no current plans to expand any of these into longer stories, but may continue to add more of them over time.
1. The Witch of the West

The castle crouched in front of rocky mountains, but stretching out before it were bountiful golden plains. These fields of wheat, corn, and various other crops filled the Witch's window. She stood there gazing out at the endless harsh yellow before her. When she had first come to the Winkie Country the hard, neverending saffron yellow had hurt. She had cried every morning when she awoke to find that the world was still not softened to a less painful hue.

That had been many years ago, though, and now the yellow simply rekindled her rage every morning. Yellow no longer made her cry, but it had never ceased to hurt. It make her furious that with all her power she still couldn't make the Winkie Country any less yellow.

A Winkie maid slipped cautiously into the room bearing a tray. The maid's uniform was entirely shades of yellow and the tray was a bright bronze with buttery golden dishes bearing largely yellow food. Yellow, yellow, yellow.

In a towering rage, the Witch grabbed a dish from the tray and hurled it across the room. She screamed wordlessly, her eyes blazing with barely contained fire. The maid was used to these displays and had positioned herself in a safe niche along the wall. A guard in bronze armor and a flowing yellow cape peeked into the room. Satisfied that there was no threat to the Witch, he returned to his post.

The Witch fumed. Someday she would find a way to wipe the nauseating yellow from this land, but it wasn't likely to be today. She sullenly sank into a plush yellow chair and took a bite of the warm cornbread dripping with butter that was provided for her breakfast.

As the Witch contemplated what to do with the day, the Winkie maid busied herself laying a fresh yellow and black dress from the yellow wardrobe out for the Witch. She set the Witch's tall yellow and black hat nearby and set about straightening the mussed yellow bedding of the Witch's golden bed.


	2. The Witch of the North

The Witch stood at her window, gazing out over her beautiful gardens. Lilac bushes lined the west side and orderly rows of violets and purple lilies grew in an attractive star pattern of paths. At the beginning of spring, the Gillikin gardeners had asked permission to redesign the gardens and now the Witch was able to enjoy their work from her high window.

A Gillikin maid came into the room humming to herself. She glided around the room in her mauve uniform dress straightening the bedding. The Witch smiled, but decided not to interfere with the girl's work. Instead, she bustled across the room to her large indigo wardrobe and opened the tall doors.

Inside the wardrobe were dozens of dresses in various shades of purple and white. She carefully selected a white gown with glittering violet stars sprinkled across it and lifted it from the wardrobe. A matching conical hat soon followed.

The maid, having finished with the bed, came over and began to help the Witch change out of her wisteria dressing gown and ruffled nightgown so that she could slip into the white dress. Once all the hooks on the dress were done up, the maid piled the Witch's silver hair up onto her head.

As they were finishing up the Witch's dressing, another maid in a mauve uniform glided into the room bearing a tray of breakfast food. She began to set the food out on a small plum colored table.

Once her hair was finished, the Witch happily seated herself, thanked her maids, and began to eat her breakfast. She had eggplant crepes with a blackberry juice drink. It was delicious. She again looked towards the window as she ate, smiling at the small purple birds flitting in the soft sunlight. What a beautiful morning it was!


	3. Nick Chopper

Nick Chopper left his cabin to begin a day of work. He was in an exceptionally good mood. He loved his work in the forest, but his trip to town yesterday had been exhilarating. The woodsman was still floating on a cloud from the experience. Despite being fully dressed, he had failed to notice that his buttons were all in the wrong button holes and his stomach was audibly growling because he had forgotten breakfast. It is doubtful that he would have cared much had he noticed these things, though. His mind was much more agreeably occupied.

As he pictured the beautiful girl that he had met in the market, he held his axe before him. His feet whirled him around the clearing in a waltz. The axe didn't make a perfect partner, being not well balanced for dancing, but Nick had been carrying it since he was a small child and had mastered the art of being able to keep control of it at all times with little thought or effort.

A squirrel sat watching the waltz from his perch high in a nearby tree.

"Hey, Woodsman!" the squirrel yelled down to Nick. "You should eat before you make yourself dizzy!"

Nick stopped dancing and looked up at the squirrel.

"How do you know that I haven't already eaten?" he asked. The squirrel laughed.

"Woodsman, we all know when you wake up. You clomp around like you're made of metal!"

Nick scowled up at the squirrel, but his good mood wouldn't let him be annoyed for long.

"If you know I haven't eaten, why don't you offer to share your breakfast?"

"You want me to share?" asked the squirrel with a grin. "Catch!"

And suddenly Nick was being pelted by nuts.

'Well,' he thought as he ducked back into his cabin, 'maybe I should build a new home to live in with Nimmie Amee. Somewhere with better neighbors!'


	4. The Witch of the East

The Witch looked down at the square below her balcony. Cute little Munchkins dressed in cute little blue suits and dresses smiled at one another in the morning light. It was all so nauseatingly adorable.

Even when they came to her to complain about something they smiled and acted sweet as pie. She had never seen a Munchkin lose patience or yell or throw something in anger. They were so disgustingly sweet that she thought the whole place would probably caramelize in the heat of the sun.

A Munchkin man cleared his throat behind the Witch to get her attention. She turned towards him with a scowl.

"It is good to see you this morning, Ma'am," the Munchkin declared with a smile and a bow. His slight tremble was very satisfying, but not enough to chase away the Witch's frown.

"Why have you come to bother me?" the Witch scowled.

"Pardon me," the Munchkin replied with another bow, "but there is a petitioner here to see you."

"It's too early for that nonsense. Send them away."

"Excuse me, Ma'am, but she is a very old woman and she has brought you gifts."

Gifts sounded good. The Witch grumbled that she would see the old woman and followed the Munchkin to her receiving room.

Standing in the middle of the room was a hunched over old woman, two fluffy sheep trying to find grass on the stone floor, and a bored looking cow. Any minute they would probably start making a mess of her castle.

"Why have you demanded an audience with me?" demanded the Witch with a sneer.

"Good morning, Ma'am," the old woman greeted her. "I have come to beg you to get rid of a man who threatens to take my only helper away from me!"

The Witch finally smiled. Perhaps this wouldn't be such a waste of a day after all.


	5. The Wizard of Oz

Oscar Diggs woke up to find the sun shining merrily outside his window. It was another perfect summer day. Was every day here sunny and beautiful? He climbed out of his large bed and walked over to the window. He looked out over the city below him and sighed.

On the pretty city streets far below his tower bedroom he could see men and women out walking and children playing. With a sigh, Oscar sank into the green upholstered seat below the window. He wished that he could go down and walk the streets with them, but it simply wasn't possible. Not if he didn't want them to know the truth about him.

There was a polite knock on the door, which snapped Oscar out of his reverie.

"Come in, Jellia," he called.

The door was pushed open and a pretty young woman dressed in a smart maid's uniform and green-lensed glasses glided into the room carrying a tray of food. She smiled sweetly at Oscar as she set the tray down on a small table.

"Good morning, Wizard," Jellia chirped brightly.

"Good morning," the Wizard of Oz replied. "Won't you join me for breakfast this morning?"

"Oh, no, Wizard!" the maid demurred. "I couldn't possibly!"

"Please?" Oscar almost pleaded. "An old man gets lonely here by himself."

"But you're the Wizard!"

"Right now I'm just a man looking for conversation. Please stay and talk to me." Oscar flashed her his well-practiced circus smile, the one that always got people to spring for a balloon ride.

With a smile back at him, the young woman sank into the chair opposite and reached for a roll.


End file.
